As a part of our initiative called Curious Cornhuskers, an anonymous reader asked The Daily Nebraskan, “Why can you only take ice cream out of the dining hall?”

David Annis, director of University Dining Services, said the restriction concerns costs and fairness for both the university and students with meal plans.

Annis said an all-access meal plan allows students to eat at the dining halls as many times as they want and have access to quick food like Huskers On-The-Go and Husker Hoagies.

Dining services allows students to take small portable foods like ice cream and cookies out of dining halls, but if dining services doesn’t know what the student is going to do with a full meal, he said they can’t allow students to take more food.

“For example, if they take out food for a friend that doesn’t have a meal plan, that’s hurting us and the student,” Annis said. “There’s a concern with cost within the university having to pay for food, and the students having to pay to eat the food, and someone else is getting it for free.”

He said dining services will work hard during summer 2019 to make university dining more flexible for students. The work will include possibly opening late-night services. Right now, all dining centers close at 8:30 p.m.

“Students may be studying or working late and may be worried about when they would eat,” Annis said. “We’re talking about opening Husker Hoagies or [Husker] Heroes until midnight for easy access. There’s definitely a lot of things we are going to discuss going forward.”